The Webs of Deception
by GrellScarletSpears
Summary: What if a certain redhead had been left broken by someone whom he so desperately wanted revenge upon? And what if there was only one man that could help him do so; even if it went against all reaper laws? General pairing- GrellxWill.


**A/N This story is pretty much a 'what if?' scenario that popped into my head as I was watching the ending of season 1, though I've tied it into the events of the anime as much as possible. This is set entirely in the anime world though does feature Alan and Eric (how could I ever exclude such awesome characters?).**

**Anyway, I hope that you enjoy~!**

**Kuroshitsuji belongs to Yana Toboso, and not any crazy fanfiction writers XD**

Chapter 1

It had been a long night, but we all pulled through eventually, effectively putting a stop to that twisted angel's scheme.

On that night, all of London had been set alight with a 'purifying' flame, yet there were no souls to be collected; giving us nothing to do but reap the empty, black hearts of the dead.

There weren't many of us in the city at the time; there was more paperwork that needed to be done, but there were enough.

"Looks like we've gotten rid of that mess," the silver haired man cheered once all of the black matter had been cleared, resuming his perch on the step I'd found him on, "it's up to the butler now."

At the moment, Sebastian was fighting the corrupt being, saving us the trouble if worrying about it getting into our library again.

"Yes, our part here is done," Will agreed after having a quick glance around in every direction, being sure to spare the battling demon a disgusted glare as he straightened his already perfectly levelled spectacles with his scythe, "Undertaker, your library fees are to be wiped as agreed, and the rest of you are to hand in your paperwork on my desk within an hour."

"When will the party be held, Mr Spears?" asked one of my colleagues that I'd never bothered to learn the name of; I only had time for a handful of the black suited men.

"Three hours from now," the black haired boss replied disinterestedly, parties not being an area he was particularly interested in- it just seemed as though work was all that he did.

Following a particularly loud explosion from the bridge, the four men whose names I didn't know made some murmured sounds of approval as they swiftly disappeared to do as the boss had said.

"Well, I'm heading back to my shop for the night," the Undertaker shrugged, tucking his long, traditional styled scythe into his robes.

"You're not coming to the party?" I gasped dramatically, quickly pouncing on him to prevent him from escaping so easily, "Won't you come and dance with me?"

As per usual, the old man burst out laughing at my reaction, and simply patted the top of my vermillion head.

"I would love to, my dear, but I've got a few mangled corpses to take care of," he sighed contentedly, making me inwardly shudder at his fascination with the dead- to me, death was an art, but dead objects held no appeal at all.

"Fine, I'll see you again soon," I pouted, unlinking my arms to let him go, making him grin as he tipped his hat to Will and I, and strolled off down a dark alley, humming a funeral march.

Which left me with the ever monotonous man I'd come to love over the years since we passed our final exam together.

"See you later," I stated quickly, blowing Will a kiss, before bouncing down the ash layered street in the opposite direction.

"That eager to get your papers done?" he asked, appearing in front of me with a thin eyebrow raised.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous!" I grinned, shaking my head at the very thought of such a thing, "I need at least two hours to get ready; I need to look perfect for my man."

"And your man would be...?" he asked flatly, eyebrow now twitching in irritation.

"You, of course, darling," I giggled, prodding him gently in the chest, "you know that you're the only one for me; those other men don't compare!"

"Why did I even bother asking?" he sighed, though it was more to himself than me, and then suddenly looked more alert, "Come, Sutcliff, we are on a very tight schedule."

"Wait, what? I thought that we'd gotten rid of the hearts," I stated, looking around in confusion, "I don't see any left."

"Yes, we've neutralised that threat," he nodded in agreement, "however, we still have work to be done here."

"But, what-" I started

"Please, Grell, stop protesting," he cut me off sharply, "just meet me under Tower Bridge- I'll explain there."

Without another word exchanged, he disappeared, making me frown at the vacant street.

What was Will doing?

Not wasting any more time, I immediately started bounding in the direction of said bridge, already seeing Will waiting for me on one of the bases.

He...he wanted us to stand there?

Naturally, all reapers had the ability to travel instantaneously from one place another, but running was far preferable to me as I had a slight tendency to teleport to the wrong place, and I simply enjoyed the feeling of the wind in my hair as I leapt over buildings.

Turning my eyes to what was happening atop the bridge, I could see nothing of the Phantomhive brat, Sebastian or the angel, as they were all shrouded in what looked like smoke the colour of slate, and a mixture of black and white feathers.

Cautiously landing next to the expectant man, I gave him a curious look as a scream erupted from the angel above us, accompanied by a huge amount of debris falling between the two concrete bases.

I swiftly summoned my scythe to deflect a few pieces of rock that flew our way; they wouldn't have done any real damage to us, but were enough to be annoying.

"That was close," I mused, looking over the edge to give to water a distasteful stare.

As I looked down, I couldn't help but notice the hundreds of human faces in the sides of the large grey bricks that made up the two bases of the bridge, each face screaming in pain.

"Are we here for any of them?" I asked with furrowed brows, not liking the way that they moved like ghosts on the stonework.

"Those souls are beyond our help. As you know, Ciel Phantomhive is contracted to Sebastian Michaelis, and that by destroying the angel," he explained, pausing as he saw me catching on, "the contract will be complete."

"We can't let Sebastian take Ciel's soul," I nodded, realising why he'd sent away the lower ranked reapers, and let the one retired one leave, "but we can't let Ash survive either."

"So, whichever of the foul creatures wins, we will have to destroy it anyway," he finished off resolutely, using a gloved hand to smooth down his hair.

I nodded once again in agreement, and cast my eyes upwards to find a rather odd sight; a small blue haired child hanging from the bridge by only a small hand.

"Is he on your to-die list?" I asked, pointing to Ciel.

"Master," Sebastian called, though his voice echoed oddly, "can you last long enough for me to count down from ten?"

"Yes, well, not exactly," Will answered rather unhelpfully, and then simply passed me the thin, well kept book and pointed to the very faint name at the bottom of the list, "his death depends entirely on a decision at the moment."

"Yes!" came Ciel's strained reply to his butler.

"The outcome of the battle perhaps," I shrugged, staring at the name a moment longer before returning the list, and resuming my study of the bridge, "Sebastian's in his true form, isn't he?"

"I suppose so," the other reaper nodded with pursed lips as he tucked the book into his inside jacket pocket; not bothering to dissolve it as we'd most likely keep checking it.

"Then here we go...," Sebastian announced, before starting the countdown, and really causing that angel agony if the sounds of his screams, exclamations of random words such as 'unclean', and what seemed like the tearing of limbs were anything to go by.

"How utterly grotesque," Will muttered, shaking his head with a frown, and then quickly looked to me, "how well do you swim?"

I stared blankly at him for his random question, but quickly joined the dots.

If not rushed by being hunted by enemies, a demon would head to an island unknown to any creature not of Hell, to take the soul of their master.

We needed to destroy Sebastian before he could get Ciel there.

The notion of putting an end to the demon didn't bother me much; I'd wanted a deathmatch with him since first meeting him, and having Will join in would only make the glory sweeter.

"I don't," I admitted, not looking in his direction.

"Sutcliff," he huffed, "if this is something to do with not getting your hair wet-"

"Really, I can't swim!" I hissed, turning back to glare at him, "I have a phobia of water, and can't wait to get back onto stable land!"

"Oh...," he blinked, at a loss for words for a moment, "we need to lure him onto land then. You stand on the banking and be ready to do anything I tell you, no matter how bizarre it seems."

"Why are you the one giving commands?" I frowned, though I was more than happy to do as he said, I was just curious as to why.

"You're the better one at fighting and acting, and I'm better at formulating plans," he quickly pointed out, and then followed that with something I never expected to see; the slightest of smiles, "besides, I've never been the best at listening to people."

"Right," I laughed with a knowing nod, and then turned to leap over to the side of the Thames.

"One," Sebastian finally reached the end, and my senses were suddenly assaulted by two huge explosions; the first causing me to jump in surprise and cling onto a rather shocked Will, and the next blinding me for a moment with the pure white light that also washed away the many faces of human sacrifices.

"Grell?" Will called quietly, tapping me lightly on the back, shocking me that he hadn't actually thrown me off of him.

I peered up through my fringe to find an unusually calm pair of two-tone green eyes peering back down into mine through two pairs of glasses.

"Sorry," I mumbled, letting go of the tall man and taking a step away- actually feeling shy for once.

"It's over now, Master," the red eyed man above stated, causing Will and I to stare up at Ciel, who still hung off of the bridge.

Oh, never mind.

Without a word to his butler, the young Earl let go, sending himself plummeting towards the water below.

"Do we...?" I swiftly asked the man beside me, who was already opening his to-die list.

"It's unchanged," he shook his head, watching as the child fell past us, his cinematic record playing on its own, "we don't reap it."

Quickly following his master, Sebastian dived into the river to save him, though he seemed to have lost an arm.

"He's wounded...that could be useful that he's already weakened, but he'll be desperate," he debated aloud, and then gave me a sharp order, "get to the banking. I will get the boy when they come up. I need you to take him so that we can deal with the beast on land."

"Understood," I confirmed with a look of determination.

"Oh, and Grell, you realise that he will be at his most dangerous," he said quietly, "this will be risky."

The look in his eyes told me just how true his words were; there was a chance that we wouldn't survive- after all, a demon in a frenzy could easily wipe out five grim reapers.

"I know," I nodded, showing the actual worry that I felt beneath my upbeat front, and with speed alike to lightening, delivered a soft kiss to his cheek, "for luck."

There was a trace of a smirk on his lips as I jumped from the bridge foundation to solid ground and waited, with my breath caught in my throat, to see how things would unfold.

I felt odd to say the least- I'd never before felt nervous when facing Sebastian alone; except for that first time when Will had to come and save me, yet now I felt as though my nerves were tearing themselves to shreds.

Seeing something white and red above, I noticed that the angel would certainly not be a problem any longer, as its body was jutting out from two joining beams of wood at the top of the bridge.

Half a minute passed, during which my eyes darted edgily between Will and where the pair had gone under, but were yet to come up.

Had Ciel actually drowned?

No, someone still had to make a choice that would influence Ciel's fate.

What if something had happened and we'd missed it?

Putting my worries to rest, Sebastian broke the surface a few seconds later with an unconscious but breathing, blue haired boy.

Will instantly dropped so that he was lying flat on his stomach to avoid being seen by the demon, who seemed to be admiring the bridge, pointing out that it truly had become holy.

I could see that Will was carefully lining up the blades of his scythe with Ciel in such a way that he'd be able to snatch him from Sebastian by hooking his clothes.

There was still a chance that Will wouldn't get a clear shot and end up stabbing one of them, but I held a lot of faith in Will's accuracy with those deadly rose clippers.

What if Ciel's fate came down to Will's aim?

No; Will was too well trained and use to his scythe to fail.

In the deciding second, Will pulled the extension trigger on his scythe, sending the open blades towards the pair in the water.

Come on, Will.

As usual, he perfected the task and successfully plucked Ciel from the confused demon's arm, before swinging his weapon in my direction to more or less throw the child at me.

I caught Ciel with ease, but was suddenly left with the query of what I was suppose to do with him.

Put him somewhere safe or keep a hold of him?

Or kill him?

That brat had gotten me into enough trouble.

"Grell, I can see what you're thinking, but just put him down; you can be the one to reap him if that is what needs to be done," Will told me strictly, yet not overly coldly, "but just focus on the demon for now."

With a nod, I lay Ciel a few metres behind when we'd been standing, watching with weary eyes as an extremely irritated Sebastian strutted towards us atop the surface of the river itself.

Well, he did certainly have a useful array of talents.

"William, Grell," the man in the ruined tailcoat greeted us emptily, "whatever game you are playing, please do not involve myself or my young master."

"It is your intention to take Ciel Phantomhive's soul, is it not?" Will sharply interrogated the being he so hated.

"Of course," he confirmed curtly, "but he needs a warm bath before that; he will catch cold otherwise."

"As reapers, it's our duty to protect every human soul from the clutches of demons," I stated, giving the official statement as I'd heard Will recite it so many times when lecturing me on reasons not to go near Sebastian, "even one as cold as Ciel's."

"What exactly was your plan here?" the butler sighed, looking to Will, "To simply take him easily as I'm so dreadfully worn out from my duel with Ash?"

"Surely you don't believe that we are that naïve, Sebastian," Will answered flatly, "we knew that a fight was to be had between us."

A frown crept onto the demon's features at Will's words, and then he looked to me with falsely pained eyes.

"Grell, I thought that you wanted to have my children, as I recall you said," Sebastian pouted, those scarlet orbs not leaving my eyes, "if you give me back my master, then I will take you up on that offer."

My eyes widened as I recalled those words I'd spoken during a spell of insanity and bloodlust.

How dare he humiliate me with my own words; especially in front of Will!

"All you'll be getting is a scythe to the throat!" I snarled, quickly lunging at him and slashing with my whirring blade.

Somehow syncing himself to my erratic movements, Will sliced and stabbed at the other black haired man with such precision that we landed continuous blows to the struggling one armed demon.

Gallons of demon blood spurted from the butler in random directions, painting him in the most glorious colour- as I'd always desired.

Yet, it didn't seem right; things were going to well.

It was too...easy.

He couldn't have been weakened that much by the angel.

Sebastian suddenly kicked Will firmly in the stomach, sending him flying backwards into a wall.

Will!

I let out a gasp at the sudden attack to my partner, making the demon display me a sharp toothed grin.

Were his fangs usually that obvious?

No; he didn't look right, something was different.

Despite that fact that it was already night, everything seemed to quickly be getting darker.

What's happening?

Is my mind playing tricks on me?

I could hardly see the demon that I was fighting anymore; I could feel that he was still there, meeting or countering my blows, but he was lost to the shadows that had settled around us.

"I don't have the patience for this!" Sebastian growled, his voice sounding as though it echoed in the night.

From the darkness burst a black, claw-like hand, raking straight down the centre of my chest.

I staggered backwards in utter shock, accidentally letting out a pained shriek as I felt the thick wounds begin to burn, my blood soaking my shirt and waistcoat, dying them scarlet.

"Grell!" Will called, and for the first time, I heard real, raw anger in his tone.

"Ah, William, you should have stayed calm as usual," the demon cackled, and then the familiar sound of high heels clinking noisily on the ground reached my ears, "now, you, the ever composed reaper, have gone and gotten yourself trapped while trying to save your useless subordinate. Really, the role of hero doesn't suit you."

"So, this is your true form," Will muttered in disgust, completely ignoring the taunts, though his voice sounded strained.

"Indeed. Repulsive, isn't it?" Sebastian giggled manically- a truly haunting sound that would stay with me for some considerable time, "I would play with you for a bit longer, but my master awaits, so I must be swift- goodbye, Mr Spears."

Ignoring the state of my chest, I charged forwards towards Will's voice, my scythe quickly making contact with a shiny, black, leathery leg.

Along with Sebastian's howl, there was also a sickening cracking sound, followed by a hollow yell from Will.

"Will!" I screamed, seeing the demon's talons wrapped around a few oddly angled vertebrae in Will's back, and then watching in horror as he threw the man's limp, but living, body to the ground.

Will!

There lay that one man that could really captivate my flamboyantly wild heart: his limbs sticking out at awkward angles; his suit dyed the colour I so admired, and his to-die list open on the floor before him- ironically open to the page on which Ciel's name resided.

My stomach lurched at the sight of my partner's mangled body, making it difficult to hold down the bile that rose in my throat.

"Will," I gasped, feeling my legs going wobbly from the shock, "hang on!"

With a fuchsia glare that I'm certain cursed me to the deepest pits of hell, Sebastian dispersed the shadows so that I could lay eyes on what he really was- a beast.

His skin was impossibly dark, as were the feathered wings he had tucked behind him, and the spiked tail that swished back and fore menacingly behind him.

Somehow, in the back of my mind I noted that he was the only being that could ever pull off such ridiculous heels.

"Oh, so you are a man," it chuckled, pointing a long claw to my partially bare chest.

"Shut up, beast!" I hissed, though I was actually trying to buy time to think.

Do I fight or run?

I can't leave Will- there was no way he'd survive such bodily damage.

So what do I do?

"R-run," Will ordered me, but his voice sounded so utterly wrong; it was stuttered and slurred in a way I never though I'd hear.

That should never have happened.

Making the decision, I charged at the demon, intending on going for the other leg, but stopped short of my target.

Why won't my body move?

It took a moment for my mind and body to register the agony that soon drowned out all thoughts as I saw the fiend of Hell's hand going straight through my abdomen.

"That was immensely stupid!" it laughed mockingly at me, "But, then again, you've always been a fool, haven't you Grell? Pointlessly chasing after people in attempt to get them to like you; it's never gotten you anywhere has it? I needn't say what flirting with me has gotten you, but what about the legendary reaper that would rather play with his cadavers than you; what about the boss that has been denying you for decades? Will you never learn? You are meant to be alone and unloved."

Those words...those words sunk into my brain all too well.

As sick as it was, he was entirely correct.

I was unwanted; unloved; alone.

And now, broken.

The demon ripped his hand from inside of me, and threw me so that Will and I were facing each other, the feeling below my left knee also being cut off as I landed.

"I'll be taking my master then, and devouring his soul," the filthy being grinned, his disgusting form returning to that of the butler I'd grown so used to seeing as he collected the boy, and lay him on a nearby boat, "goodbye, reapers."

Screwing my eyes shut, I vomited blood where I lay, unable to move away from the patch of earth aside my fallen partner.

"W-why didn't you run?" he panted, his face vacant of any expression at all.

"Couldn't leave you," I replied, my voice bubbling in my throat along with another barrage of blood, "how much...pain are you in?"

"Can't f-feel. P-paraly-lys-sed," he stuttered, losing his control over his tongue, "you d-don't look...t-too well either. Can you move?"

I felt tears of both anger and pain run down my cheeks to meet the lake of blood as I tried to move my torso, but ended up letting out an unbidden scream as the walls of my gaping wound scraped along the rough ground.

"N-no," I murmured, voice drawling as my mind started to slip away.

Taking just a second to follow Will's troubled gaze at the blood-splattered book, I noticed that Ciel's name had become bold; so we were meant to reap the soul- that Sebastian would now take.

How could such a creature manage to destroy two gods of death so easily?

To completely humiliate us both?

The thought of the demon's words sparked something fierce within me; something that needed to be said.

"He was...right about me though," I winced, grinding my razor teeth together in frustration, "I was always m-meant to die alone, but...thank you for not being too hard...on me today. Really is...only you I love."

I tried to give him a grin, but only succeeded in throwing up more blood into my already crimson hair.

"Always h-had soft spot...f-for you," he admitted with a slight smile, though it was followed by a groan, "b-but, you're not...alone.

Really? Did he really mean that?

And it took us both getting killed by Sebastian for me to hear that.

To be killed by him of all creatures; it was a sickening insult.

I hated that demon more than I'd ever hated any other being, but off he'd gone to get exactly what he wanted.

I wished that I could kill him.

No, death wasn't enough- I needed him to suffer more.

But I couldn't; I couldn't do anything but stare into the fading eyes of my could-have-been lover as we were slowly and mercilessly dying together.

"My, my, two death gods felled by a fellow demon," a voice chuckled in astonishment, though there didn't seem to be any particular source.

"G-going to...t-take our...souls, beast?" Will growled, eyes squeezed shut.

"Of course not, the soul of a grim reaper can only be given, never stolen," the demon stated indifferently, "I'm simply here to admire the bloodshed."

"H-help," I murmured, coughing up a mouthful of thick, red liquid.

"You know that I'll only work for a single price," the demon chuckled, vocally waving away my pathetic plead."

"So be it," I growled, glaring up at the starless night.

"Are you really willing to surrender your soul to me, reaper?" the voice asked uncertainly.

"No!" Will said sharply, followed by many laboured breaths, "D-don't you...d-dare."

"F-forgive me," I whispered to the reaper, before raising my voice, "I am."

"Very well, what is your wish?" the voice asked as I observed a large, brown and gold spider appear from the ground in front of me.

"R-revenge- I want S-Sebastian Michaelis...to suffer a f-fate worse than d-death," I announced, feeling my blood burning in my veins at the very thought of the man, "a-and for him...t-to never...d-devour Ciel Ph-Phantom...hive's soul."

"For your own soul?" he asked once again, to which I nodded slightly, "then it is done."

I watched curiously as the spider crawled onto my left wrist, and then crumbled away to form a yellow and gold contract seal that burned into my skin.

"G-Grell...what h-have you d-done?" Will asked gravely, his eyes showing great concern, but also what looked like disappointment and betrayal.

How could he give me such a look? I was trying to save us and get even with the red eyed beast.

In front of me now stood a butler that looked much like the bastard that had incapacitated myself and Will, but had piercing golden eyes, glasses, and a different hairstyle.

"D-demon, help W-Will," I ordered him, my eyes darting to the other man, "and th-then me. D-do n-not...let either of us d-die."

"Yes, master," he bowed before me, and then carefully turned Will onto his side to give the man's back some attention, regardless of his broken protests.

My body gave a shiver as everything went cold; the pain no longer present, nor the urge to vomit.

I cringed as the other reaper's hateful eyes turned on me, displaying a glare even icier than usual.

I knew what that look said; he was cursing me for making my demon help him- destroying his pride even further than Sebastian already had.

Could he really feel so strongly about such a thing?

He knew that my intentions were good, but he would never let that moment go.

But, at least he'd be safe.

And we'd get our revenge.

I glanced down at book, and let out a slight bark of laughter at the absence of the blue haired boy's name- meaning that Ciel was not to die, and neither was Sebastian to take his soul.

Knowing that there was at least a small victory, I let go of all that was keeping me conscious; the last thing I saw being those wide, worried eyes behind a certain pair of rectangular spectacles.

Allowing me to be shut away from the rest of the cruel world, and leaving me alone with the numbing darkness.


End file.
